A variety of devices are known for removing snow and ice from surfaces. Two major categories are: those designed for use to remove snow and ice from sidewalks or driveways, and those used for removing snow and ice from surfaces, for example windshields, of motor vehicles.
Snow removal devices designed for use on a vehicle include: tools for brushing relatively light snow, and tools for scraping ice from glass. A variety of arrangements for scraper tools, brushing tools, and combinations of brushing and scraping tools are known. For instance, a typical snow removal device includes a brushing tool disposed at one end of an elongated handle portion, and a plastic scraper tool at the opposite end of the elongated handle portion.
Known arrangements for scraper tools, brushing tools, and combinations thereof typically do not, however, provide a means for removing heavy or relatively deep snow. Brushing tools provided on snow removal devices are generally efficient to brush away a light dusting of snow but are less efficient to remove heavy snow, since snow typically tends to pass between the bristles, bend the bristles, or pass over the top of the device, such that displaced snow lands in the wake of the device. Ice-scraping tools are typically not large enough to efficiently remove heavy snow; a relatively large number of passes with a scraping tool are required to clear a windshield or the like.
Devices are known for removing heavy snow from sidewalks, driveways and the like. Some of the these devices, such as that shown in Gantz, U.S. Pat. No. 2,867,827, further provide a brushing means to remove a light dusting of snow after heavy snow is removed with the shovel portion.
It is, however, awkward to use a shovel or the like, as intended for use on a sidewalk or driveway, to remove heavy snow from a vehicle. Since the snow removal portion of a shovel is typically perpendicular to the handle portion, the mass moment of the shovel is such that the shovel tends to rotate about the longitudinal axis of the handle unless the shovel portion rests firmly on a surface to be cleared. Further, sidewalk shovels are typically large and relatively heavy; therefore it is difficult to lift a shovel to vehicle window level. Since shovels are typically of metal and typically include sharp edges and corners, use of such a device on a vehicle may easily result in damage to the vehicle. Also, shovels are large and not readily stored under a seat of a vehicle, a convenient storage place for a windshield scraper.
What is needed is a device for use to relatively efficiently remove heavy snow, as well as light snow, from a vehicle. It is particularly convenient to include more than one snow removal tool on a snow removal device so that a user is more apt to do a thorough job of removing snow and ice to make the vehicle safe for driving. If the user must hunt for all appropriate tools to remove view-obstructing snow, he or she is particularly apt to use an inadequate tool and, therefore, do an inadequate job of removing the snow.